Wednesday, May 05, 2004

GET IT TOGETHER
An editorial from the Lebanese Daily Star:

"As the Middle East region suffers continued stress, conflict and stalemate, Arab leaders over the next eight weeks have a rare opportunity to do a rare thing: take the initiative and "sell" to the world their vision of a Middle East that is considerably better off than it is today.

To move this vision forward, it is time to look back and relaunch the Arab Peace Initiative which was presented to the world at the Beirut Arab League summit of 2002. The formula was, and still is, simple: full Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state based on the land Israel has occupied since the 1967 war. In short, not only an end to the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but a solution to the Israeli-Arab standoff and the closing of a chapter in Middle Eastern history that has poisoned decades and continues to destabilize the region."

This is a possible upside of Bush's incompetent diplomacy and incoherent regional policies: Arab leaders could finally realize that they must play a more constructive role in settling the Palestine-Israel conflict.

Or maybe this is part of Bush's brilliant plan. By acting like he's completely out to lunch, he scares Arab leaders into more positive engagement with each other.

posted by Matt Duss @ 11:39 AM

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